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The last polka song for Walter Ostanek

Walter Ostanek might not be doing the bird dance at the prospect of selling his store. But he knows when it’s time to fly the coop.

After nearly a quarter-century running Ostanek’s Music Centre in St. Catharines, Canada’s Polka King is moving on.

On April 1, Canadian music instrument chain Long and McQuade takes over and a new song begins at 41 Geneva St.

“I think the time has come to take some pressure off me,” said Ostanek, speaking about the sale. “I don’t want to go, but I’m about to be 78 years old next month.

“But I’m feeling like I am fairly young still and can do lots of things.”

Ostanek — a three-time Grammy Award winner for polka albums, with many more nominations — was interviewed in the store basement. He wore muck-about clothes as he cleared out overflowing stacks of entertainment memorabilia.

“My goal was to open up a museum here, with this stuff I have … but we don’t know yet what to do,” mused the famed accordian player and polka recording artist, famous for his ever-ready smile when he plays. “It’s unbelievable the people I’ve met over the years.”

Ostanek’s stand-alone store had its origins on 144 St. Paul St. in the early 1960s. He moved it to its current location in 1965. It has since been a local headquarters for instruments, equipment and assorted musical merchandise.

Long and McQuade is an established, well-regarded chain of about 60 stores and a worthy successor, said Ostanek.

“I’ve been working with them for maybe 45 years, buying amplifiers (and other stock),” he said, adding the company, seeking a presence in St. Catharines, sought to buy out Ostanek’s.

After some family discussion, it was agreed the deal made sense, especially since current staff will stay on after the sale.

“The economy is not as good as it was,” he said. “But we’re still doing OK. If they weren’t coming in, we wouldn’t think of selling. We have a good reputation.”

Ostanek said he has three recording projects on hold in the meantime, and plans to keep playing with his band.

As for future recordings, though, “that might be it,” he said. “The sales are not there anymore, people are downloading, it’s a new system I may or may not get into.”

Among his mild regrets are the Grammys doing away with the Best Polka Album category in 2009.

“I feel sorry for the young musicians coming up,” he said. “But for me, they did it at the right time. I was nominated 21 times and won three times, it’s been a beautiful ride. I came in second best (to American polka rival Jimmy Sturr).

“Really, I’ve met a lot of famous people, and had a lot of fun.”

Walter’s son Rick Ostanek, 50, will be the new store manager, and said he looks forward to the Long and McQuade transition.

Among improvements will be a store modernization, increased inventory and a ramped-up music lessons program.

“We’re hooking up with a good company,” Rick said. “It’s going to be a bigger and better store and we’re all happy with it.”

don.fraser@sunmedia.ca

Twitter @don_standard

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In his many appearances inside the pages of The Standard, Walter Ostenek has remained eminently quotable. Two examples:

JUNE 5, 2009, on Grammys elimination of the polka category

“Personally, I don’t have any bad words about the Grammys, period,” said Ostanek, then 74. “I’m satisfied. I’ve had a nice run. The only thing I feel bad about is the up-and-coming young artists that are in my field.”

“Somewhere along the line, the bird song, the little bird dance, the hokey pokey or the macarana, that kind of thing, it will happen again,” Ostanek said of his prediction that the polka will rise again.

June 1, 2001

On the eve of his induction to Canada’s Walk of Fame, Canada’s Polka King is waltzing on air.

“Polka! Polka! Polka!” cries Walter Ostanek over the phone from his “humdinger” Four Seasons Hotel suite in Toronto.

Asked how he feels about a televised performance with folk titan Gordon Lightfoot, his response is just as exuberant.

“Yeah — it’s going to be called the ‘If You Could Read My Mind Polka,’” he jokes.